[Q] New One M8, old HTC user: Need help understanding a few things

[Anakha56]

Hello All,

So I recently bought a M8 and I just need some help in getting the steps nailed down correctly. Be warned long post with lots of questions...

fastboot getvar version-main
version-main: 3.32.111.3

fastboot oem readcid
(bootloader) cid: T-MOB101

That is basically my device, now due to it being 4.4.4 from factory I am unable to use Sunshine & Weaksauce. I could wait until the new year but why

bother .

First step:
Get my factory firmware image after reading this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2701376 due to it being a T-Mobile and

Germany and 4.4.4 I am unable to run the command listed there to get the stock recovery, so how do I get the stock recovery for my device? @BerndM14

Has provided me with a link to download the latest firmware for my device but it has the TWRP recovery inside it, link is this one: http://www.handy-

faq.de/forum/htc_one_m8_custom_roms/304821-htc_one_m8_firmwaresammlung_ruus_otas_backups.html#post2832636. I should point out that I do have a OTA

waiting to download and install, should I download and install it? The version listed on the screen is 3.32.111.9 and is only 183.73MB. Would it have a

viable stock recovery? Can I downgrade to a older version for the stock recovery?

Second step:
Once the above is done and dusted my next step is getting root & S-OFF & custom recovery. This is relatively simple because all I need to do is visit

HTCDev, unlock and then S-OFF with Sunshine and then a custom recovery. Correct? Sounds and looks simple enough.

Third step:
Download ROM of choice and flash away. So I am going with InsertCoin due to user loyalty from the Desire days . However I see people in the thread

mentioning that they flashed the latest firmware to sort out a couple of issues, I take it they mean the ROM file and not HTC firmware?

Fourth and probably not needed step:
Changing the phone to WWE and SuperCID? Do I really need to do this? Benefit of changing to WWE is changing the HBOOT to a more universal one? The

reason why I am thinking of converting is because I would want to get rid of the red text on the boot screen as listed here: http://forum.xda-

developers.com/showpost.php?p=51744965&postcount=1 however for T-Mobile Dutch the HBOOT CIDS are T-MOB003, if I flash that would it cause a problem?

I would also be looking at running the commands to change the flags showing tampered and unlocked but that looks simple to do. Am I missing anything? For warranty purposes I would use the instructions from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2710735 but download the recovery file for T-MOB Germany instead?

Thank you for reading the long post and I hope that I have made some sort of sense.

 

[BerndM14]

Yes it will have the firmware.zip with the recovery.img inside it. Even the small 47MB or so, OTA update for the WWE from 2.22.401.4 - 2.22.401.5 had the firmware.zip inside. So just download the OTA.zip copy to PC extract firmware.zip and grab the recovery.img.

Benefits to converting to WWE or even Developer edition also includes the fact that those devices will receive OTA updates before any carrier version, directly from HTC. It's a bonus if you're into the "latest & greatest" scene.

As for making a backup before flashing custom recovery, have you tried booting the custom recovery? Philz will probably be better if you want to use the booted custom recovery to make a backup of stock recovery. You could also try and boot either TWRP or Philz and see if you can root your device without flashing custom recovery, that way you can at least use the dd command to grab a copy of the recovery block. <My preferred method, though it's a terrible circle. Need to flash custom recovery to root, need root to make backup of stock recovery... So hopefully booting the custom recovery will work. That being said, easiest way still remains to grab it from the OTA.zip.

Perhaps you could even upload a copy of the OTA.zip and share it on here, I don't think the OP has a copy in the second post

ROM/Firmware. You need the latest firmware to run the latest ROM. For most it'll be firmware with 3.x. If you still run on 2.x(which you aren't) you'd have some problems with radio(bluetooth, gps, wifi, data etc)

 

[Anakha56]

Thank you for the reply .

To be honest I have not tried booting a custom recovery because I saw this in the first post of this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2701376

fastboot boot recovery_filename.img (this does not work on the latest 3.xx firmwares !!! we need to get the stock recoveries from the OTA files)

So I am not sure what to try to be honest. This toolkit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51383278&highlight=ota#post51383278 mentions getting root without S-OFF but with a unlocked bootloader. So I am thinking that if I follow those steps, maybe when I get to the reboot phase I can execute a nandroid instead which might get me the files I want?

I won't bother with WWE then. I will rely on the dev's to give me the latest & greatest .

 

[BerndM14]

Thank you for the reply .

To be honest I have not tried booting a custom recovery because I saw this in the first post of this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2701376


So I am not sure what to try to be honest. This toolkit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51383278&highlight=ota#post51383278 mentions getting root without S-OFF but with a unlocked bootloader. So I am thinking that if I follow those steps, maybe when I get to the reboot phase I can execute a nandroid instead which might get me the files I want?

I won't bother with WWE then. I will rely on the dev's to give me the latest & greatest .

Hm, yeah I also had some problems booting a recovery, but I just tested it out again. I can at least boot TWRP version 2.8.3.0 so it still works for me. I'm on 3.28.1540.5 (Developer edition). Haven't tried Philz though, net a bit too slow to bother with even a small download

 

[Anakha56]

No problem. I am busy downloading the OTA.zip and once complete I will try the toolkit method and see what happens . Again, thank you for the reply.

 

[Anakha56]

I need some help... My phone seems to be stuck in fastboot mode and is not picked up in Device Manager of Windows. I can touch the fastboot screen and it vibrates but it does not nothing. I have held down the power button for 20 seconds with no result. I had just unlocked the bootloader and then tried pushing the Philz recovery image to the device with the command line:

C:\android\sdk\android\platform-tools>fastboot boot philz_touch_6.57.8-m8.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  1.541s]
booting...
OKAY [  0.002s]
finished. total time: 1.547s

*edit*

Holding volume up + power for 10 seconds helped *whew*...

 

[xunholyx]

Thank you for the reply .

To be honest I have not tried booting a custom recovery because I saw this in the first post of this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2701376


So I am not sure what to try to be honest. This toolkit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51383278&highlight=ota#post51383278 mentions getting root without S-OFF but with a unlocked bootloader. So I am thinking that if I follow those steps, maybe when I get to the reboot phase I can execute a nandroid instead which might get me the files I want?

I won't bother with WWE then. I will rely on the dev's to give me the latest & greatest .

You don't need S-Off to root, just the unlocked bootloader, custom recovery, and superuser.

 

[Anakha56]

@xunholyx Thanks for the post . I am trying to get an image of my stock recovery file first, so I am trying to avoid flashing the custom recovery right now . BTW Does anyone know if TWRP makes a backup of the stock recovery before overwriting it like Philz does?

 

[clsA]

@xunholyx Thanks for the post . I am trying to get an image of my stock recovery file first, so I am trying to avoid flashing the custom recovery right now . BTW Does anyone know if TWRP makes a backup of the stock recovery before overwriting it like Philz does?

http://www.handy-faq.de/forum/htc_o...resammlung_ruus_otas_backups.html#post2832635

oops sorry.. i see you already been their

your hboot 3.19 will prevent booting to recovery ... and no TWRP doesn't backup stock recovery

you just need to find the OTA.zip for your version it must be out their somewhere

 

[Anakha56]

@clsA I have the file

3.32.111.3 - TWRP

From that site but its recovery is TWRP. I am trying to grab the stock recovery currently on the device before going forward. When I unzip that file it has 6 items:

boot.emmc.win
boot.emmc.win.md5
system.ext4.win000
system.ext4.win000.md5
system.ext4.win001
system.ext4.win001.md5

I have downloaded the OTA that is ready for my phone but I had hit a snag. The file was corrupt, on redownload I have the small OTA but the recovery version number has incremented past mine, I don't know if it will be still useable with the ROM file from the link?

 

[clsA]

@clsA I have the file



From that site but its recovery is TWRP. I am trying to grab the stock recovery currently on the device before going forward. When I unzip that file it has 6 items:



I have downloaded the OTA that is ready for my phone but I had hit a snag. The file was corrupt, on redownload I have the small OTA but the recovery version number has incremented past mine, I don't know if it will be still useable with the ROM file from the link?

it should work, recovery does not have to be exact just close

and the file you have doesn't include TWRP .. it was created with twrp ... big difference

 

[xunholyx]

@clsA I have the file



From that site but its recovery is TWRP. I am trying to grab the stock recovery currently on the device before going forward. When I unzip that file it has 6 items:



I have downloaded the OTA that is ready for my phone but I had hit a snag. The file was corrupt, on redownload I have the small OTA but the recovery version number has incremented past mine, I don't know if it will be still useable with the ROM file from the link?

You can use any 3.32 based stock recovery for your phone. There are plenty of backups for that on this thread. No need to backup your own.

 

[Anakha56]

Thank you guys! That helps me a lot! Off I go to flash a custom recovery .